Kingdom Hearts 3 Story Discussion

[Zettaflare]

Wonder where Namine will stay now that she is a complete person? I'd like to think Twilight Town so she can be genuine friends with Roxas and Xion

 

[Onion Knight]

Whoa, that's a surprisingly long thread.

 

[Miasthma]

One thing that threw me off in the ending was when Chirithy just appears in Land of Departure and Ven is just like "hey little guy!" It's almost as if he just suddenly now remembers Chirithy, and Terra and Aqua are just like "ohai". Anybody got any ideas as to what in the worlds is goin' on there?

 

[Sephiroth0812]

One thing that threw me off in the ending was when Chirithy just appears in Land of Departure and Ven is just like "hey little guy!" It's almost as if he just suddenly now remembers Chirithy, and Terra and Aqua are just like "ohai". Anybody got any ideas as to what in the worlds is goin' on there?

There are several pretty simple explanations actually,


and Ventus does not even need to remember anything specific yet as since this Chirithy is his personal one he would instinctively welcome it regardless of his own memory status.
In this series when you're deeply connected with someone you feel that regardless of current memory status because memories are immortal and never fully lost, only inaccessible for various reasons.

Ven is also such a sweet kid that it is totally within his character to just accept the Chirithy and cuddle it. In one of the story updates of Union Cross when it comes to creating Spirit Dream Eaters he is totally smitten with them too and Chirithy is a Dream Eater after all.

As for Terra and Aqua, they probably just run with it since the Chirithy does not seem dangerous and it obviously makes Ven happy so they're ok with having it around.
Who knows, the Chirithy may actually become the new mascot and/or "housekeeper" for Land of Departure when TAV are away meeting their other friends or fulfilling a mission.

 

[KeybladeGuy]

The Caribbean is dark. Like dang.

 

[Twilight Lumiair]

Wonder where Namine will stay now that she is a complete person? I'd like to think Twilight Town so she can be genuine friends with Roxas and Xion

Definitely the mansion. It's quiet, big, out of the way, and she did always seem fond of that place while she was drawing (blank points also seems to suggest that she'd likely spend her free time there). I could see her maybe cleaning things up or renovating a bit, and of course she'd probably get some help, but overall that's where I'd place her. The rest of the Twilight Town gang would probably get there own separate places within the actual town itself (don't think it really matters what specific part of town, but they'd probably be relatively close to each other over all).

 

[TruestSyn]

Definitely the mansion. It's quiet, big, out of the way, and she did always seem fond of that place while she was drawing (blank points also seems to suggest that she'd likely spend her free time there). I could see her maybe cleaning things up or renovating a bit, and of course she'd probably get some help, but overall that's where I'd place her. The rest of the Twilight Town gang would probably get there own separate places within the actual town itself (don't think it really matters what specific part of town, but they'd probably be relatively close to each other over all).

Considering the size of the mansion, we'd probably get to see Lea, Roxas, Xion, and Isa reside there too. So they can all be together. If it's even bigger than we get to see or if it's renovated bigger, Hayner, Pence, and Olette could live there too. Having the group live there they could have their own Ansem's castle situation.

 

[Unusual1290]

Wonder where Namine will stay now that she is a complete person? I'd like to think Twilight Town so she can be genuine friends with Roxas and Xion

I think maybe Destiny Islands since after she was awakened, Riku came for her. I feel like Kairi wants her with her

 

[*TwilightNight*]

I think maybe Destiny Islands since after she was awakened, Riku came for her. I feel like Kairi wants her with her

Riku picked everyone up for that island party -- the shadow of the Gummi ship was seen on the clock tower.

We can't even say this about Kairi considering the two didn't even get to interact. KH3 is just a collection of missed opportunities.

 

[Launchpad]

Sora refers to Scrooge as "Uncle Scrooge". This means, and this cannot be argued with, that Sora considers Donald to be his brother.

 

[omegalucas]

Everybody refers to Scrooge as Uncle Scrooge. It's his comic book title. Goofy weirded me out a bit when he said it though.

 

[Sakuraba Neku]

I finished all the Disney Worlds.

Biggest disappointment: Arendelle. It's not a bad World itself, but when compared to the rest it stands out as a sore thumb. All the other Worlds have different and beautiful locations, while in Arendelle is just snow everywhere and there's not much variety. The minigames/missions are boring, the Labyrinth of Ice is not better either, due to its location there's barely any NPCs, Hans comes from nowhere and doesn't even speak... Ironically the best thing is really the Let It Go cutscene. I summoned Simba in the last boss battle, so Simba vs Garurumon was a fun matchup.

Biggest surprise: Kingdom of Corona and The Caribbean. I was expecting The Caribbean to be the most boring World, so turn out to be in my top 3 was a great surprise.It feels like one of the most completed Worlds of the game because it covers land, sea and sky. I didn't have any problems with the 300 crabs mission because of how much fun I was having exploring Port Royal and interacting with the NPCs. The Field Theme is also my favourite from the Disney Worlds

Kingdom of Corona, OMG, it was amazing!! Another World that I was expecting to be boring but totally blew me away. The World is gorgeous, the story is told perfectly, Marluxia knows how to play the villain role and the character interactions are all entertaining. In particular the playable ones with Rapunzel (get the birds to her, throwing water at her, the dancing minigame...). If I wasn't biased towards Olympus, it could be the number one for me.

Ranking:

1- Olympus
2- Kingdom of Corona
3- The Caribbean
4- San Fransokyo
5- Toy Box
6- Monstropolis
7- Arendelle

I excluded 100 Acre Wood for obvious reasons, even though it's always the worst one.

 

[SuperSaiyanSora]

Spoiler Show

You know, the more that I think back on the game as a whole (and I'm not sure if this was addressed yet, I kinda just jumped to the most recent page)... It seems like the subtle theme underneath it all is Sora being too reckless and his inability to listen to counsel at times. It's why I don't really feel sorry for him in terms of how he ends up (dead or otherwise lost to darkness in a Sleeping World), as much as I love the character.

Yen Sid even said back in 0.2 that the reason why he never told Sora and Riku about Aqua is because they would've staged a reckless attempt at a rescue, especially Sora. Even throughout the game here and there, the cast makes a few cracks at how reckless Sora can be, and it's really not until Young Xehanort says "what you're doing comes at a cost" is when you really start to go, "what exactly could the cost be"?

Mickey had to beg him not to leave in the ending, but Riku let him go because again, it's Sora -- everything always works out. Except, this time it didn't (far as we know), which was a bad call on Riku's part because Sora nearly became a vessel if it wasn't for Lea coming in at the last second in DDD.

And I think situations like this shows exactly why Riku's a Keyblade Master and Sora isn't -- he leaps first and asks questions later, which is dangerous, reckless and irresponsible. Again, Donald and Goofy had to beg Sora to not go into the Realm of Darkness because of the obvious risk. Sora went anyway, and it turned out to be the right call (even though I think Riku could've handled it once he got Mickey somewhere safe), but still. He doesn't listen to advice sometimes, and that's why he ends up in trouble.

You could make the argument that Yen Sid should've told Sora and Riku exactly how dangerous the Power of Waking is, but in Yen Sid's defense... He thought that at most, Sora's going to need the power to save Aqua and Ven, since Terra was MIA. There's no way he could've predicted that Sora was going to use the power to chase Hearts through multiple worlds without a care, and had Sora listened to Riku and went back to Yen Sid, I'm sure he would've explained exactly that, seeing as how Mickey seemed to know exactly how dangerous it was.

Sora is the character that you know is going to go life and limb to save you, but I really hope in the upcoming arc, he realizes that he can't be so self-sacrificial anymore and learns to be smarter about things like this, because there's only so many times Riku is gonna be able to go and dive after him. Sora may not like people teasing him about being reckless and stubborn, but it's true, so this arc should humble him immensely. No more of this "Everything will work out!" thinking, because it cost him twice.

 

[Xickin]

Gotta say, I'm very disappointed with how the game ended.

Spoiler Show

The final boss wasn't anything noteworthy (Ansem and Xemnas in I and II were honestly better). How the problem got resolved kind of pissed me off (Master Xehanort just admitting defeat and handing over what was honestly a 17 year legacy (in our time I mean)), Sora leaving to save Kairi, and they don't even show how he got her back (I know WHY he didn't come back (because Kairi was the one guiding him in the first place, so he was okay until he had to go rescue his one lifeline)). The secret epilogue left me with a lot of questions (not too unhappy there, but Xigbar? Really? How the hell did he summon the other Foretellers to the present? Isn't time travel only possible for hearts (I mean, I'm guessing they became hearts after the first war, but they obviously didn't come into contact with replicas from what he saw)?).
Finally, the secret ending leads me to a couple of possibilities as to what it meant:
1. Sora somehow time travelled and is in the world BEFORE Kingdom Hearts was even a thing (and Riku chased after him at some point), and it's the Master of Masters plan to create it somehow so that the world can come to be as it is. As we saw in 3DS being in the realm of sleep and the flow of time are not too different, hence TWEWY being a part of the series.
2. Sora is in a COMPLETELY different dimension and the Master of Masters is planning on starting completely fresh and make a new Kingdom Hearts

PS Also, just a little complaint here, Sora may be reckless and a bit of airhead, but I feel like they were just insulting him in III when he couldn't put two and two together, and the would forget 30 seconds later.

PPS Also, just another couple of theories on the contents of the black box:
1. A book of prophecies for what comes AFTER the events of III, and the Foreteller's instructions on what to do after that (or maybe a book on what happened in the past and how Kingdom Hearts was made and what it all means)
2. A replica for the Master of Masters to return to when he's done doing whatever he's doing in Japan.

PPPS (Last one, I swear): I think the girl they keep referring to is Ava. She wasn't there at the Foreteller meeting, and they kept referencing a girl throughout the game. It's either her or Skuld, which I think is unlikely.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

There's definitely a problem for me in the whole treatment of Sora's character.

Spoiler Show

On one hand the Norts were right and Sora was indeed "too impetuous" (please tell me someone here knows Cathy's house). I especially like Xigbar in Olympus, that whole speech about courage and friendship resulting in reckless situations was spot-on for the series, and it makes sense he would say that.
And yes, in order to further corroborate this aspect of Sora's character his "friends" poop on him at every turn. Sora is essentially considered a mumbling idiot by his peers. Whatever, is for the laughs and it's a common trope in japanese media, I'm not THAT upset, but still it was a bit too much.

What I have a problem with is the fact that the narrative doesn't actually support that, and in turn Sora's recklessness is at one point completely justified and useful.
Sora insists on saving Aqua, and everybody block him because "no u need the power of waking, STUPID", so he doesn't go. Story doesn't really advance, not for the heroes anyway. Like, what if the Norts decided to attack the new Seven Princesses as soon as they got the thirteenth member?
So, the problem here is that at the end Sora does NOT gain the power of waking, but still goes to save Aqua. Plot twist: everything goes Milhouse and she is saved and everybody comes back. And look at that! As soon as Sora does what he's been told not to for 20 hours, suddenly the plot advances and Ventus is safe too. Story progresses only when "stupid and impetuous Sora" does what he felt like doing all along.

Now yes, Sora was "lucky" and found the Keyblade on the Islands, that's the whole reason why this worked in the first place. But this is a series where they acknowledge that Sora just performs miracles and defies logic due to his bond and heart, he's "a Keyblade wielder unlike any others" so Yen Sid constantly blocking him from doing his thing because there's a guideline to follow doesn't make that much sense at all.

 

[FudgemintGuardian]

In the end, I just wish Nomura would stop focusing on what'd be cool for trailers and start focusing on the story not falling flat on its face.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

So, this started as a rant/nitpick, but after thinking more about it became sort of a theory.

Spoiler Show

I was thinking about how apparently only Ven's Friendship Value was high enough to trigger a response in Guardian, meanwhile Aqua and Riku could clash with him until the end of time and he would fight them with all his might.
But then I though about his words when he frees himself: "One day, I would come back to this land." It's true, KH III marks the first time Guardian got ever summoned in the Keyblade Graveyard, which might've made Terra more receptive towards his friends.
And another thing. This is just me speculating wildly, but perhaps after their bout Lingering Will sort of "vanished" inside Terra, giving him back his willpower too. (It still doesn't excuse his pathetic disappearance after that cool sequence)

One last thing, how ironic that at the end of the day the "power of the guardian" would've indeed been the power to protect one's friends, as every prologue choice in KH kept telling us, heh. Nice coincidence.

 

[Ballad of Caius]

Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana Nanananana

The Caribbean is dark. Like dang.

How so?

I think maybe Destiny Islands since after she was awakened, Riku came for her. I feel like Kairi wants her with her

I kinda see Namine as a traveler. What with being trapped inside a castle for so long, and then inside a mansion, and her contemplating at how the wind passed through her cheek gives me a feeling she might like to travel and see other worlds.

Spoiler Show

You know, the more that I think back on the game as a whole (and I'm not sure if this was addressed yet, I kinda just jumped to the most recent page)... It seems like the subtle theme underneath it all is Sora being too reckless and his inability to listen to counsel at times. It's why I don't really feel sorry for him in terms of how he ends up (dead or otherwise lost to darkness in a Sleeping World), as much as I love the character.

Yen Sid even said back in 0.2 that the reason why he never told Sora and Riku about Aqua is because they would've staged a reckless attempt at a rescue, especially Sora. Even throughout the game here and there, the cast makes a few cracks at how reckless Sora can be, and it's really not until Young Xehanort says "what you're doing comes at a cost" is when you really start to go, "what exactly could the cost be"?

Mickey had to beg him not to leave in the ending, but Riku let him go because again, it's Sora -- everything always works out. Except, this time it didn't (far as we know), which was a bad call on Riku's part because Sora nearly became a vessel if it wasn't for Lea coming in at the last second in DDD.

And I think situations like this shows exactly why Riku's a Keyblade Master and Sora isn't -- he leaps first and asks questions later, which is dangerous, reckless and irresponsible. Again, Donald and Goofy had to beg Sora to not go into the Realm of Darkness because of the obvious risk. Sora went anyway, and it turned out to be the right call (even though I think Riku could've handled it once he got Mickey somewhere safe), but still. He doesn't listen to advice sometimes, and that's why he ends up in trouble.

You could make the argument that Yen Sid should've told Sora and Riku exactly how dangerous the Power of Waking is, but in Yen Sid's defense... He thought that at most, Sora's going to need the power to save Aqua and Ven, since Terra was MIA. There's no way he could've predicted that Sora was going to use the power to chase Hearts through multiple worlds without a care, and had Sora listened to Riku and went back to Yen Sid, I'm sure he would've explained exactly that, seeing as how Mickey seemed to know exactly how dangerous it was.

Sora is the character that you know is going to go life and limb to save you, but I really hope in the upcoming arc, he realizes that he can't be so self-sacrificial anymore and learns to be smarter about things like this, because there's only so many times Riku is gonna be able to go and dive after him. Sora may not like people teasing him about being reckless and stubborn, but it's true, so this arc should humble him immensely. No more of this "Everything will work out!" thinking, because it cost him twice.

I WHOLE[B]HEART[/B]EDLY (teehee) agree with EVERYTHING you said here! If you look back at the Kingdom of Corona's ending, with Rapunzel wanting to save Flynn, and him saying it could end her life, I feel like it was foreshadowing to Sora's fate.

Gotta say, I'm very disappointed with how the game ended.

Spoiler Show

The final boss wasn't anything noteworthy (Ansem and Xemnas in I and II were honestly better). How the problem got resolved kind of pissed me off (Master Xehanort just admitting defeat and handing over what was honestly a 17 year legacy (in our time I mean)), Sora leaving to save Kairi, and they don't even show how he got her back (I know WHY he didn't come back (because Kairi was the one guiding him in the first place, so he was okay until he had to go rescue his one lifeline)). The secret epilogue left me with a lot of questions (not too unhappy there, but Xigbar? Really? How the hell did he summon the other Foretellers to the present? Isn't time travel only possible for hearts (I mean, I'm guessing they became hearts after the first war, but they obviously didn't come into contact with replicas from what he saw)?).
Finally, the secret ending leads me to a couple of possibilities as to what it meant:
1. Sora somehow time travelled and is in the world BEFORE Kingdom Hearts was even a thing (and Riku chased after him at some point), and it's the Master of Masters plan to create it somehow so that the world can come to be as it is. As we saw in 3DS being in the realm of sleep and the flow of time are not too different, hence TWEWY being a part of the series.
2. Sora is in a COMPLETELY different dimension and the Master of Masters is planning on starting completely fresh and make a new Kingdom Hearts

PS Also, just a little complaint here, Sora may be reckless and a bit of airhead, but I feel like they were just insulting him in III when he couldn't put two and two together, and the would forget 30 seconds later.

PPS Also, just another couple of theories on the contents of the black box:
1. A book of prophecies for what comes AFTER the events of III, and the Foreteller's instructions on what to do after that (or maybe a book on what happened in the past and how Kingdom Hearts was made and what it all means)
2. A replica for the Master of Masters to return to when he's done doing whatever he's doing in Japan.

PPPS (Last one, I swear): I think the girl they keep referring to is Ava. She wasn't there at the Foreteller meeting, and they kept referencing a girl throughout the game. It's either her or Skuld, which I think is unlikely.

* Sora time traveling back to a time even before Kingdom Hearts existed could be due to Luxord's Wild Card. We never got to see in KH3 what that did. I am also a fan of the idea that the Master of Masters is a denizen from a time before KHx and is trying everything in order to bring back his home.

* I don't think the MoM's end goal is Kingdom Hearts. Otherwise, he would have stayed for the War, but he didn't. I think there could be something beyond Kingdom Hearts itself that the MoM intends to manipulate in order to achieve whatever it is he wants to achieve.

 

[galaxystars]

Finally there’s a discussion about Saix because I definitely need to get some things off my chest about him.

Spoiler Show

Firstly, the fact that he's sitting on the clock tower with three of his victims (especially Xion as he was horrendous to her in Days) made me emotionally ill to witness. Then later, to add even more insult, he's even included in the Destiny Island scene. My issue is that he had no redemption arc to get to these points. It was just instant forgiveness from the narrative as well as RAX. Also Xion (of all people) and Roxas actually looked visibly sad at his 'death'. I'm like wtf are you doing Noruma?! Ugh.

When I see the main guy who emotionally abused two 15 year old children for an entire year, plus his former best friend, as well as trying to get them to kill each other, now eating ice cream with them like their all friends then I need more than a clocktower scene convo, and a 'I was jealous love me' while I die in your arms sympathy play.

The clocktower and then the destiny island montage is a redemptive reward that could have happened a game or two later, but not in this one. Before the ending clock tower scene they could have showed something like Saix waking back up as Isa in RG, and Lea could be waiting for him. He smiles at Isa and says Welcome Back. Then Isa gives a slight smile in return before the scene fades to the RAX scene with HPO. This way atonement can be a true possibility, but it's a slow burn instead of the off the grid one we got in this game.

Vexen/Even's and Ienzo’s redemptions were more bearable because we were shown theirs, but we’re only told Saix's and there lies the problem. All his supposedly good deeds are done off screen. Nomura erred with this because Saix was too much of horrible person for all of his sympathy plays to be in the background where we the viewer can’t even see it go down.

Riku, and even Lea, had to slog through a redemption arc spanning several games to make amends for their bs, but Saix gets he's handed to him on a silver platter.

I’m not saying he shouldn’t get to make amends at all, because that wouldn’t be fair, but that he should earn it and this game failed pretty strongly at that.

I can accept that he's the Riku of he and Lea's possible Trio, but it's just he pretty much gets a slap on the wrist for being a garbage pail in every game he's been featured in, and said wrist slap came from his victims no less. It all just rubbed me the wrong way.

Also the reason they gave to try to make him sympathetic came off like a gigantic asspull. If there was ever a perfect rendition of a retcon that was definitely it. Since KHays was about the organization that was the perfect game to go into Saix and Axel’s backstory as well as to humanize Saix. At least when he was by himself, with Axel or in his secret reports, so that when we get to this game it wouldn’t feel so jarring to see this evil character trying to pull a sympathy play at the last minute. It just all felt like bs to me to try to make a character sympathetic without doing the actually redemptive leg work to get there.

I know some people are going to say but that’s Isa in those end scenes so it’s fine, and sure that’s technically true, but it’s still very unnerving to witness because his Nobody was just so disgusting.

Also is it just me or does Vexen's report, as well as Saix and Axel's clock-tower scene, imply Saix gave his heart up of his own free will both times?

The only saving grace Saix had in the sympathy department were the initial implication that he and Axel were victims of Ansem and his apprentice's experiments, and that's how their hearts got taken hence him begging for his back at his 'death' in KH2. Also in Re:Coded we see him getting kidnapped so that it looks like his humanity is snatched from him against his will yet again.

However, if the implication in the clock tower scene and reports are true then they both gave their humanity up willingly to somehow save a girl they met once, and who we didn't meet even in a flashback. It further hurts Saix case when the implications are also that he is the one whose idea it was to become walking nightmares so they could somehow save this missing retcon, and Lea just went along with it.

Further implying he wasn't heart napped against his will is that not once at any point in the game or the secret reports does he ever talk about having his heart back, but then having it taken away again in the span of moments. Nor does he say anything about what's it's like serving this monster again or that he and his old friend are forced to be on opposite sides. However, we do get him waxing poetic about a retcon girl because that's more important than your lost humanity, your lost friendship, and being forced to bring about the end of worlds.

Also the perfect time to make Saix sympathetic was through his human self, and they couldn't even do that.

Isa was a little jerk in Birth By Sleep. All he did was make me wonder why Lea was friends with him in the first place. Which leads me to...

Lea doesn't mention Isa, and his nortification predicament, even once throughout the entire game. However, he stayed having visible sadness for Roxas and Xion. This just ties into something I've always thought, and that's the strong retconish whiff that Axel and Saix being best friends came out of nowhere. It seemed like it was only added to give Axel's character more angst in KHays.

Also I’m already making the prediction. Watch Isa get a keyblade in later installments. His asspull reason for being a jerkass now makes him part of a trio of two wielders so yep he’s getting one to just watch.

Furthermore why does he still have an X scar on his head as Isa? That's supposed to be about being marked for Xehanort correct so why does he still have it? It definitely wasn't there when he was human in Birth by Sleep. Honestly to me it's just more proof that Isa gave his heart up willingly.

Anyone else think he looks like Sepiroth in the ending?

In addition to while he looks nice in it (I mean Saix/Isa was never ugly) what is he wearing in the ending? Is it a tracksuit? That’s really cheesy and doesn’t really seem like something his character would wear.

On another note I loved that the two people Axel gets lambasted for ‘murdering’ in Re:Com are the very two that are responsible for his friends coming back to life. Not only that but he is also the reason his ‘victims’ are back as humans to.

 

[ImVentus]

Funny enough
I don't like how Sora is constantly scolded by Donald & Goofy. If anything Sora's been through a lot of rough spots without their interference and made it out fine. And the rest of the experienced wielders laughing at him, doesn't really sit that well with me. ( Especially with what happened at the Keyblade Graveyard ) Who's laughing now!?
Sora isn't a little child, he's a teenager that should have a sense of his own without being told he needs others approval to make his mark.
This kind of baffles me, cause some scenes are written with a thought of (what Sora should do) or question the situation. Yet a large amount of scenes he's a ditzy cupcake searching for rainbows with not a care in the world (DDD act 1 reprise). While proven in the past that he can achieve great things and really shouldn't be so underestimated by his peers. And when he does show moments of guilt and emotional distress, fans label him as a pussy and weak!? I mean, make up your mind! If you want him to be human, let him have times where he's not always at top. That doesn't make him uninteresting, that makes him challenged.

Spoiler Show

I like how the game does point out that Donald & Goofy aren't as wise and mature as people like to think. Sora handling their constant doubts and teasing shows that he's not only tired of being doubted, but also that he's hopefully showing sides of learning to think for his own. And not to mention Donald & Goofy are quite biased when it comes to the organization. Labelling them as black and white (evil)
They're just as dense as Sora can be, despite Goofy often being labeled as the logical one. Couldn't help to feel that they sometimes were acting really out character